The U.S.-China talks concluded with extensive concerns of both parties establishing a foundation of negotiating in good faith. We are now talking about Intellectual Property Rights and the long list of outstanding issues. The talks are moving forward and looking at the Stock Market investors want this breakthrough to continue to advance quickly. On the Corn front funds are long and commercials are short with farmers gladly selling any rally. Lack of USDA news due to the government shutdown is at least not spreading fake news. In the overnight electronic session the March Corn is currently trading at 380 which is 2 cents lower. The trading range has been 382 ¾ to 379 ¾.

On the Ethanol front the February contract is currently trading at 1.275 which is .006 lower. The trading range has been 1.290 to 1.275. 46 contracts traded and Open Interest is at 1,827 contracts. The market is currently showing 2 bids @ 1.271 and 2 offers @ 1.275.

On the Crude Oil front the market seems to be in profit taking mode. And yes, I said profit taking mode as the market burst to the upside digesting the basic fundamental news I was preaching in November and December of last year. The real news was in front of our face the whole time and investors have finally come to their senses. In the overnight electronic session the February Crude Oil is currently trading at 5172 which is 64 points lower. The trading range has been 5226 to 5137.

On the Natural Gas front the market is trading higher mostly with temperatures dropping. We have the weekly EIA Gas Storage data at 9:30 A.M. and the Thomson Reuters poll with 17 analysts participating estimate withdrawals anywhere from 115 bcf to 50 bcf with the median of a withdrawal of 77 bcf. This compares to the one-year withdrawal of 183 bcf and the five-year average decrease of 223 bcf.